Pediatric Blog

6 Ways Your Website Could Be Hurting Your Practice

Practice websites are designed to help physicians be found and acquire new patients. But if you haven’t updated your website recently, it may be causing your business more harm than good. Like a car, a website’s value depreciates over time and performance begins to lag behind newer models. Here are 6 ways your old website could be hurting your medical practice:

It looks oldFirst impressions are important. Patients expect doctors to be up to date on the latest treatments and scientific literature, with knowledge of the newest technologies and therapies for care. Although it may sound silly, an outdated website gives an appearance that you are behind the times.

It doesn’t work on smartphonesMore than half of all consumer traffic to websites is now coming from mobile devices. If your website does not work correctly on the small screen, prospective new patients may prefer to find a practice with a website that is mobile friendly.

The info is staleWhen was the last time you checked the content on your website? Many websites list old addresses, old phone numbers, old policies, or photos of old employees, etc. It’s good practice to go through a website review at least annually to make sure everything is accurate and current.

It isn’t optimized for search enginesThe majority of website traffic comes from search engines like Google, who are constantly updating their search algorithms. If your site was built on old assumptions, it’s is likely not performing as well as it could be. A website refresh could help you gain more traffic and higher rankings in search results.

It’s hard to updateIf your staff has to spend a lot of time to make a simple update to your website due to an old content management system, this is costing your business money. Sites built on newer platforms can offer efficiency gains with easy updates, or you can outsource updates entirely to a third party who can manage everything for you.

It doesn’t represent your patient’s experiencePeople make judgements about how you run your business based on your website. Patients are seeking physicians who offer convenience, access to technology, who are responsive to needs, and make it easy to find the answers they need. If they don’t see this represented in your “digital storefront,” it’s likely they assume you won’t offer this kind of experience in person either.

Our sites our optimized for smartphones and local search engine results. We also provide practices the latest technology options, like our PageMyDoctor service and mobile applications. Our sites are built on a content management system used by Fortune 500 companies like Starbucks and Mazda, which makes updates quick and simple. Contact us today to see what a website update can do for you.